Jury verdict in a civil trial finds Joshua Burns responsible for his daughter, Naomi's, injuries; Brenda Burns found not responsible. Mother and daughter were reunited "under the supervision of the Department of Human Services."

Jan. 27, 2015

Jury conviction

A Circuit Court jury convicted Joshua Burns of second-degree child abuse, a felony that carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

Mar 4, 2015

Notification of move

Brenda Burns' attorney informs DHS that her client and Naomi have moved, but she refuses to provide the new address and demands that DHS no longer communicate with or contact Brenda Burns.

March 6, 2015

New petition filed

DHS and the prosecutor's office file a new petition asking the judge to order Brenda Burns to comply with the court's order and DHS supervision "to safeguard Naomi's safety and well-being." The juvenile court attorney referee orders the couple to provide the address by 5 p.m.

Joshua Burns' attorney tells DHS that Naomi is living at a home on Hartland Hills Drive in Hartland Township - the last known address her father provided to DHS as his home, which prompts CPS officials to visit to determine if he is living with his daughter in violation of court orders.

March 19, 2015

Felony sentence

Joshua Burns is sentenced to one year in the county jail for second-degree child abuse.

Judge Miriam Cavanaugh also ordered Brenda Burns to reveal the location of her daughter, Naomi Burns, but Brenda refused. Her attorney said CPS no longer has a legal right to demand access to Naomi because her mother has been found to be a fit parent.

April 9, 2015

Motion hearing

Judge Miriam Cavanaugh considered a motion to vacate the DHS supervision orders, which Brenda Burns' attorney, Elizabeth Warner (pictured), says are 'unconstitutional.' Cavanaugh ruled DHS' supervision would continue, but it was placed in abeyance until a later hearing which will determine if Joshua Burns' loses his parental rights to Naomi.

April 24, 2015

Status conference

Brenda Burns, who fled to Colorado, is back in Michigan for a status conference in Judge Miriam Cavanaugh's courtroom. Her attorney, Elizabeth Warner, said their position remains the same and Warner asked the judge to visit with Naomi in her chambers so the court can verify the 1-year-old girl is "healthy and not abused."

Joseph Eldred (pictured), a private attorney hired by DHS to represent its interests, said the social workers will follow through on Cavanaugh's suggestion to determine if the state must continue its efforts to terminate Joshua Burns' parental rights. Eldred said the law is clear and the state must continue with the hearing, which has been adjourned to June, but Cavanaugh appeared to side with the defense that it could be dropped.

April 27, 2015

Dr. Phil show

The Dr. Phil show featured the Burns case on its show: "Was it Child Abuse? Or was it an Accident?" Interviews included Joshua Burns, who maintained his innocence, his wife Brenda Burns and her attorney, Elizabeth Warner.

At the end of the show, Dr. Phil told Joshua Burns that he believed an injustice had been done and could not believe the father had been convicted.

"... I've looked at your background and I certainly do not see any conduct, behavior or history that is gateway to the behavior that you are accused of here. There are alternative explanations for the symptoms that she has shown," Dr. Phil told Burns. "No juror is an expert in obstetrics and I certainly am not, but as I read the literature from a layman's perspective it seems there are at least potential alternative explanations for her symptoms and that equals reasonable doubt.

"Josh ... I'm sorry that you're talking to me wearing an orange jumpsuit. It simply does not seem right and just to me. It just doesn't seem right to me," Dr. Phil added.

(Photo is from the Dr. Phil show.)

June 3, 2015

Disposition hearing

Joshua Burns testified in a hearing that will determine if he keeps his parental rights to his daughter that he was inattentive the day in March 2014 that allowed Naomi to slip from his grasp and he admitted he has deficiencies as a parent that could be addressed through the recommended parenting classes and counseling. However, he asked Judge Miriam Cavanaugh for a second chance.

"I will do whatever it takes to be with my wife and daughter," he said. "I will never give up on my family. I will humbly submit to anything this court or the Department (of Health and Human Services) sets forth for me to do, and I will accomplish it."

The judge is expected to announce her decision in July.

(Photo by Lisa Roose-Church/Livingston Daily)

June 17, 2015

Protest

An estimated 50 people gathered at the University of Michigan Health System's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital to protest Joshua Burns' conviction and sentence.

Organizer Matt Eckman said the goal was to "call attention to the bigger issues," specifically that shaken baby syndrome is "junk science." (The prosecutor's office said the case was not about shaken baby syndrome, but about abusive head trauma, which some believe is the new buzz word for SBS.)

"People come in to the emergency room and they don't realize they're being looked at as a suspect," Eckman said. "These are very complex cases and juries often don't understand the issues involved."

(Photo by Wayne Peal/Livingston Daily)

July 2, 2015

Bond denied

Attorneys with the Michigan Innocence Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, who is representing Burns on the appeal of his criminal case, asked Judge Miriam Cavanaugh to release him from the county jail on bond, pending the appeal.

Cavanaugh denied the request, saying the defense did not show "the substantiality of the (grounds of) appeal." She added: "Clearly, the defendant is not entitled to any bond pending appeal."

Caitlyn Plummer, staff attorney with the clinic, said they may bring the motion again once the trial transcript has been completely transcribed.

"We and Josh are disappointed about that, but that's not going to stop us," she said. "... We're involved with this case because we know that these types of cases, in particular these abusive head trauma cases, are something we need to take a look at."

(Photo from Michigan Innocence Clinic)

July 29, 2015

Lisa Roose-Church/Livingston Daily

Judge's ruling

Judge Miriam Cavanaugh told Joshua Burns that he made a terrible mistake but he has the capacity to be rehabilitated and he should be given the opportunity to prove that to the court and to his daughter, Naomi. In the end, Cavanaugh ruled it was not in the best interest of Naomi to lose her father and she ruled that Joshua will retain his parental rights.

(Photo: Joshua and Brenda Burns embraced and cried in relief as the judge announced her ruling.)

Attorney Elizabeth Warner looks at papers related to Brenda Burns’ case in Livingston County in this file photograph. State officials petitioned Burns into court when she failed to allow social workers to see her 1-year-old daughter.(Photo11: Lisa Roose-Church/Livingston Daily)

However, Cavanaugh suspended DHS' supervision until an April 27 disposition hearing that will determine if the father will lose his parental rights to his only daughter.

Cavanaugh also said Naomi's court-ordered attorney must have an in-person visit with the child in her residence prior to that April hearing.

Currently, Naomi is in Colorado Springs, where her mother, Brenda Burns — who was found not responsible for her daughter's injuries — fled after DHS filed a second petition in family court alleging the mother refused to allow social workers access to Naomi. That second petition was dismissed Thursday by agreement between both Brenda Burns' attorney and the DHS attorney.

"The court is hesitant to order the mother to return to Michigan, but she does have custody of the child and the court does want Naomi back in Michigan," Cavanaugh said. "How does the court exercise its jurisdiction over the baby without infringing upon the adjudicated parent to some point?"

Brenda Burns' attorney, Elizabeth Warner, suggested that the court authorize Naomi's court-appointed attorney to travel to Colorado at the expense of the court or DHS to visit the child, but Cavanaugh denied that request.

After the hearing, Warner said she did not know yet if her client would return to Michigan, although that is the woman's desire. She said her client is not interested in returning if DHS continues to interfere in her life and DHS' attorney's "veiled threat" to re-issue a petition against her client "isn't helping."

"As long as we can have an agreement that police won't be involved, that might satisfy (Brenda Burns)," Warner said.

Warner's comment referenced a January incident in which a state social worker and five Brighton police officers went to the Burns family's then-Brighton home following a Circuit Court jury's guilty verdict against Joshua Burns for second-degree child abuse for harming his then 11-week-old daughter, whom he said he caught by the face when she slipped from his lap when he ended a phone call with his wife.

Warner called the incident "a home invasion" based on DHS' "extreme, extreme implementation of what they believe" a court order allowed.

Joseph Eldred(Photo11: Joseph Eldred)

Joseph Eldred, a private attorney hired by DHS to represent its interests at the hearing, said it wasn't a home invasion, but a welfare check on the child and police provided "civil back up." He said it was Brighton Police Department's decision on how many officers to send and that was made after the officers learned there was an outstanding warrant for Joshua Burns.

Assistant Prosecutor Mary Ann Jerge also noted the grandparents, who were home with Naomi that January evening, consented to police officers' entering the home.

"It's not what it's been portrayed," Jerge said.

John Ceci(Photo11: John Ceci)

At an earlier hearing, concern Joshua Burns might violate a court order prohibiting him from seeing his daughter was expressed, but he has not violated that order, defense attorney John Ceci said Thursday.

After the hearing, Ceci said his client, who is serving a one-year county jail sentence, is doing well, although he remains frustrated by DHS' intrusion into his wife's and daughter's lives.

"The child's recovered from whatever injuries the child had," he said. "The child is developing normally."

Warner told the judge that Brenda Burns has a right not to be monitored by the government and "certainly not by the agency that takes children" because a jury found her not responsible for the injuries to her daughter and as such, she is considered "the fit parent." She argued the supervision could be done through the daughter's court appointed attorney, but not DHS.

Eldred said Warner was reaching in her interpretation of the law. He said the court has jurisdiction over Naomi when it has jurisdiction over one parent.

Following the hearing, Eldred said DHS is mandated by law to seek termination of Joshua Burns' parental rights due to his conviction of child abuse.

Meanwhile, Warner said Brenda Burns is considering a lawsuit against Brighton police and the state social worker for the January incident. Her client also will seek removal of her name from DHS' child abuse registry, which identifies people who were accused or convicted of child abuse. Warner said her client's name on that list is contrary to law, which says a person's name cannot be added if he or she won at trial.

The Burns' family story is slated for a future segment on the Dr. Phil show. Both Brenda Burns and Joshua Burns have been interviewed for the show. It was not immediately known if representatives with the show contact the prosecutor's office.